In the summer of 1985, fourteen-year-old Aeneas Henry was living with "Uncle" and his browbeating girlfriend, Miss Vivian, having fun in the neighborhood, and playing for tips in Jackson Square while dreaming of becoming the next best trombonist to come out of New Orleans. Twenty years later he's still there, with his wife and two young sons, trying to balance a necessary day job with a long-deferred dream. In the months before the tragedy known as Hurricane Katrina, Aeneas is also trying to hold his family together and avoid temptation in the form of an alluring, troubled fan and neighbor in HIGH RISE,Prequel I to SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT.